Over the past two decades, the global digital revolution has ushered transformation in every aspect of our lives. The ever-increasing digital quotient has also inspired thousands of global healthcare innovation projects, driving reach to the most remote and inaccessible areas. This, in turn, directly improves the longevity and productivity of the populace, thus leading to better socio-economic development.

The growing digital reach of healthcare services has been possible on the back of a rising mobile economy — founded on strong wireless communication networks and ubiquity of handheld devices. In spite of these positives, a considerable gap is evident in the degree of healthcare maturity in emerging markets as compared to developed countries.

In various emerging markets, out-of-pocket expenses generally cover a significant portion of overall health expenditure. For instance, in 2014, out-of-pocket expenditure accounted for 62.4% of expenditure on health in India, 46.9% in Indonesia, 40.8% in Mexico and 32.0% in China. In comparison, in countries such as the US and the UK this stood at mere 11.5% and 14.8%, respectively.

Further, availability of healthcare access and facilities continue to be relatively difficult in emerging markets. Take for instance, as per reports, India has only seven doctors per 1,000 people and approximately 0.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people.The condition is worse in rural areas, where around 67% of the Indian population resides.

With rising healthcare costs and limited access to traditional forms of healthcare facilities, there is a large untapped opportunity for mobile health (m-health) services in such markets. Taking cues from telcos’ initiatives globally, there are multiple use cases where telcos are playing a lead role in catalysing the m-health revolution.

There is a wide horizon of available m-health products and services, and the business models vary correspondingly. On one of the most basic levels, telcos are leveraging their network capabilities and offering connectivity, video conferencing and collaboration solutions. From an infrastructure perspective, telcos are providing customized cloud solutions, data hosting and management services.

On further progressive levels, telcos are strategically partnering with multiple players in the value chain, including healthcare providers, mobile application developers and content providers to offer end-to-end services and involving end-consumer interfaces. Here, telcos have embraced the opportunity on more advanced levels. For instance, telcos are offering solutions for telemedicine, mobile and remote patient monitoring using smart devices and sensors, wearable devices, electronic medical records, patient relationship management and customer care, among others.

Looking ahead, the connected healthcare field, which is a key component of the connected living schema and under the ambit of Internet of Things, will gradually witness traction in the emerging markets. In this domain, telcos have a key role to co-develop innovative solutions with healthcare service providers, harnessing the full power of new digital methods and reshaping the delivery of services.

For healthcare sector, the prospect of increasing customer base by penetrating rural and remote areas, and offering convenience of mobile-based apps will help differentiate their portfolio. For telcos, availability of additional revenue stream, increased data usage and improving customer stickiness are a few key benefits incentivizing them to dwell into m-health initiatives.

All said, uptake of the m-health industry is highly dependent upon the choice of appropriate models for both telcos as well as the partnering healthcare service providers. In this context, to monetize their innovative offerings, organizations need to think differently. Also, differentiated partnerships and alliances will become ever more important. Affordability, accessibility and awareness will play a significant role in the adoption of services.

Despite its significant benefits for the industry, consumers as well as government, on ground rollout of innovative products and services for connected healthcare can be challenging. It requires substantial levels of investments, availability of skilled resources, apt technological instruments, and support from government to develop the ecosystem and generate consumer awareness.

Further, one of the common threads underlying the telecoms and healthcare services industry is the highly regulated aspect of both these sectors. In comparison, the new-age disruptors are relatively less regulated in this space, which gives them a relative cushion.

As a progressive development, the Indian Government, with its thrust on Digital India is aiming to leverage digital capabilities and enable provision of electronic delivery of basic services to citizens. Its ICT infrastructure targets such as of broadband and mobile connectivity are expected to provide required backbone infrastructure for high bandwidth content. The push on utilizing digital for public healthcare is expected to boost the m-health ecosystem, driving awareness, accessibility and cost effectiveness of these service segments.

We are witnessing exciting times today — the proliferation of on-the-go internet, ubiquity of handheld devices and growing availability of relevant content have driven the advent of mobile-first concept in multiple spheres. Technological advancements are disrupting even the most mature industries, changing the way consumers interact, make purchases as well as consume products and services.

In emerging markets, the m-health ecosystem is largely at a nascent stage, backed by a recent upspring of digital phenomenon. It is now dependent upon the telcos, healthcare service providers, regulators and other players in the value chain to take cues from global best practices and have a customized approach to ensure inclusive growth in this arena, which is pro-consumer and pro-industry.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETTelecom.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETTelecom.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.

Prashant Singhal is the Global Sector Leader for Telecommunications and a Partner with EY India. With over 20 years of experience, Prashant is a seasoned industry expert and has been providing Assurance and Business Advisory services to clients in the telecoms and broader TMT ecosystem.

Prashant Singhal is the Global Sector Leader for Telecommunications and a Partner with EY India. With over 20 years of experience, Prashant is a seasoned industry expert and has Show more.. been providing Assurance and Business Advisory services to clients in the telecoms and broader TMT ecosystem.